If you are just joining MT and never heard of Saenchai...he's basically the pound for pound best fighter in the world right now, and incredibly unorthodox. All of his basic techniques are so refined that he pulls them off with ease, and has the skill to mix in his own bag of tricks.

As you know, both Buakao (I tend to spell it that way instead of Buakaw, because a lot of people don't know how to pronounce his name) and Petrosyan were in the final 4 for K-1, but did not fight each other. Here's the fight between them about 3 years ago I believe. Full Muay Thai rules.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

York U Muay Thai would like to give a big thank you to Kru Clifton for taking time to share with us some of his vast knowledge, as well as answer a marathon of questions. We would love to have you back sometime. Khap khun khup!

If you missed it, make sure you don't miss the next time he comes around...it was a good 2 and a half hours jam packed with insight and knowledge.

We wish Kru Clifton the best of luck for his title defense against Rickard Nordstrand in November

Friday, October 23, 2009

Don't ask me how I found this...I'll just tell you. It was in the related videos you often see at the sidebar when watching youtube clips. I did a search for Clifton Brown and was watching an interview when I saw this particular clip on the side bar. I know when Kru J sees this she will probably call me creepy, so once and for all I'm setting the story on how I found this straight lol.

For those of you who don't know, Aaron is a fighter from Siam no 1. I've never actually met him but he has trained with both Kru Jen and Poochoi Kru Nic. I've had the pleasure of seeing one of his fights and he is very skilled and technical.

Above is a link to issue 7 of the Muay Thai Phuket Magazine. This is a free magazine based in Phuket, Thailand that covers some of their local news and ads, and some Muay Thai culture over all.

Antuan Siangboxing, a young French fighter based in Thailand

I already wrote about how Muay Thai is scored/judged in an earlier post (search it on the blog). I reference Tony Myers, who is one of the leading experts on Thai style scoring. In this magazine, he has an article that lays out step by step how the Thai's judge the winner of a bout. It is definitely worth a read, and will give you an idea behind the philosophies and methodologies to Muay Thai as both a sport and a fighting art.

Monday, October 19, 2009

I mentioned in an earlier post that "Slamm 6: Holland vs Thailand" was on its way in November. It's a full Muay Thai rules event that pits some of the best Muay Thai fighters on the planet against each other. It will be one of the best fight events of the year (as the Slamm promotions usually are).

If you can, keep up with the news regarding this event and see if you can find a way to watch it.

Thanks to Kru for passing this along. It's not always easy to find a lot of female nak muays (google Muay Thai and you always come up with a bunch of males), but they are out there! We're also raising our own stable of them ;). I will be trying to find and post more female fighters for you guys in the coming months.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Many of you aren't familiar with lots of Thai fighters, so I'm going to keep throwing them at you. I may as well start with the most popular

This is Somrak Khamsing, Thai boxer legend and also the man who trained Saenchai!

Some times his name is spelled "Somluck"

I will be honest and say that I do not know if Somrak had any big titles. I think he was Thailand champion at one point but I cannot be sure. However, he competed often in Lumpini stadium and fought many of the greatest fighters.

Just like Saenchai, Somrak is unorthodox for a Thai fighter, and often throws in Muay Boran techniques when he knows he's got a fight in the bag.

He also had a stint in Olympic boxing, bringing home the gold medal.

Nowadays Somrak has been appearing in movies, releasing music (seriously, he is a recording artist), and taking fights against foreigners who generally can't touch him.

Somrak is way past his prime now, having his glory days over a decade ago. As you can see in the picture, he's not in the best of shape...but he still mops the floor with the foreigners he is matched up with.

Here's some more Saenchai. If you aren't sick of seeing him yet, you're in luck...I have some more videos of him that will posted in the coming days. I figure I may as well share him with you all before he officially retires.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Here's the fight of the day. My last video posted was a clip of Khem having a really hard fight against the masterful Saenchai (seriously, who ever has a good day against Saenchai?)...so I thought I'd show you what Khem's capable of. He's definitely at the top of his weight class in Thailand (I'd love to see him fight Buakao under Thai rules). Watch how he stalks his opponent...scary stuff

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

This was taken from OneSongchai Tsunami Event. I've posted on both of these fighters before, so you should know they are among the top of the top. Khem however is obviously on the bigger side (I'm pretty sure his current fighting weight is about 15 pounds heavier than Saenchai's). This is a great fight, with a lot of good technical exchange.

Usually I'd rather let you draw your own conclusions, but one thing I think is interesting to consider: how Saenchai, as a smaller fighter, asserts himself as an equal if not dominant in the fight against a larger Khem (try thinking less about the fact that Saenchai is just a technical genius who can throw and move in a way most people can't, and look more at the overall choices he is making in the ring).

"Linguist and author, Antonio Graceffo, in cooperation with David Long, head of the Thai program at AUA Ratchadamri, Bangkok, are working together to find a way to transport the ALG (Automatic Language Growth) learning method from the classroom to living rooms and offices around the world. Experiential learning is by far the most powerful and provides the most remembered lessons. This video is the first in a series of experiential language learning videos. The idea is to provide the students with an immediate context and cultural reference for the language they are hearing. Since about 70 to 80% of communication in your native tongue is non-linguistic, then why shouldnt we use the same non-linguistic clues to interpret and eventually learn a foreign language?"

This was actually posted on Mymuaythai.com, but it was so interesting that I had to share it. Chaos Madmax is essentially a Japanese "anything goes standing up" fight event. Fighters only have tape on their fists, and are allowed to kick, punch, elbow, knee and head butt.

If you are pressed for time, skip to part 2 of this series and watch 2 old retired Muay Thai fighters tear it up in the ring with these young Japanese fighters. This is worth the watch.

The series is hosted by Robert Clyne, who has a whole bunch of great videos on Martial arts and Muay Thai (I posted one by him already: "Illusions").

It will be worth asking yourself, from these clips, what makes the Thai fighters most different from their opponents (stylistically? technically?). Although these clips only offer us a small look at the fights, the answer is actually quite simple. Don't over think it too much. Remember: quality over quantity...

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Some of you have heard of K-1 MAX (anyone who googled the name "Buakaw" lol), but probably don't really know what it is. I will try to be as brief as possible in explaining it, and why this year will be interesting for us Muay Thai fans.

K-1 World MAX is a huge tournament in Japan for the 70kg weight class. They invite fighters from all over the world for a very fancily put together tournament. Seriously, the stadium and event is epic...youtube it.

yes, this is what the entrance looks like for fighters. ridonculous

The rules are simple: punches, kicks, and knees. They do not allow clinching, or elbows. They do not score throwing in the clinch. They also count kicks to the arms as "blocked" (in Muay Thai, the arms are considered a legitimate target for kicks).

In short, it is kick boxing and NOT Muay Thai. The rules and scoring are definitely restricting for a full Muay Thai rules fighter. Keep in mind how different the two are.

However, you'll find that some really amazing MT fighters compete in this tournament (the payday is probably the highest you can get in fighting).

Buakao Por Pramuk made his name known to the world in this Tournament. This year, he and fellow Nak Muay, Giorgio Petrosyan, will be competing in it. Buakao and Giorgio are two very talented MT fighters who have fought to a draw before under full MT rules. This year they are 2 of 4 fighters competing in the final for K-1 World MAX 2009 title.

Youtube both of their K-1 fights. You will notice that it can be awkward for both of them with some of the restrictions. Either way, I'm rooting for 1 of these guys to bring home the belt.

Yes! it's another Buakao fight. If you can't tell by now, I am a huge fan of his. He doesn't have many full Muaythai rules fights available online (most of his online library consists of K-1), but his Thai style battles are usually very technical and full of great exchanges.

Here he fights Marco Pique (who is confirmed to be on the Contender Asia 2), at a past Slamm! event.